Standards setting organizations have recently started to consider non-traditional applications for cellular networks that involve communications not initiated by humans and or not using strictly hierarchical topologies. In both European Telecommunications Standards Institute/Third Generation Partnership Project (ETSI/3GPP) and IEEE 802.16, study/work items have been initiated which consider machine-to-machine (M2M) communication or machine type communication (MTC). The M2M communications and MTC are defined as communications initiated by a machine to communicate with either other machines or with humans. In addition, the IEEE 802.16, under the 802.16n project, has started to study and specify new network topologies which include mobile station-to-mobile station direct communications (also called peer-to-peer communication) which may be used for coverage extension and/or for throughput improvement.